Zechs Marquise will be giving away 2 free tickets for every night of their shows with Thursday, Maylene And The Sons of Disaster & Native from November 23rd through December 4th. Follow Zechs Marquise on twitter and keep a look out for tweets on the morning of each show RETWEET back with the tag #zechsmarquise. All RT’s of @zechsband ‘s twitter will automatically be entered to win 2 tickets to that night’s show. Winner will be chosen randomly and contacted via twitter DM ( but keep in mind you have to be following to get Direct Messages)

Thursday, Maylene & The Sons of Disaster, Zechs Marquise, Native Shows 

Nov 23 - New York, NY @ Irving Plaza Nov 25 - Toronto, ON @ The Opera House Nov 26 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Altar Bar // Early show Big LineupNov 27 - Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theater Nov 28 - Cleveland Heights, OH @ Grog ShopNov 30 - Atlanta, GA @ The LoftDec 01 - Cincinnati, OH @ 20th Century Theater Dec 02 - Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge Dec 03 - Detroit, MI @ The Eagle Dec 04 - Rochester, NY @ Montage Music Hall 

Zechs Marquise are touring with Thursday, Maylene & The Sons of Disaster, and Native as well as headlining some dates this fall. Unfortunately due to scheduling conflicts Matt Wilkson will have to miss some of these shows. Until his return, our good friend Steve Choi of RX Bandits has so graciously offered to fill in for Matt on guitar on the following fall dates:

12/01  Cincinnati, OH @ 20th Century Theater $12/02  Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge $12/03  Pontiac, MI @ iLounge (at Clutch Cargos) $12/04  Rochester, NY @ Montage Music Hall $12/06  St Louis, MO @ The Firebird 512/07  Lawrence, KS @ Jackpot Music Hall 12/08  Dallas, TX @ Bryan Street Tavern 12/09  Austin, TX @ Antone’s Night Club 12/10  San Antonio, TX @ Studio 13 

$ w/ Thursday, Maylene & The Sons of Disaster, Native 

Zechs Marquise w/ TBA

El Paso has been the talk of progressive rock music for many years now. With progressive latin band The Mars Volta devastating audiences in venues around the world over the span of a decade, their origins of El Paso became the talk of many. Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez has been a driving force in the percussion area of Volta’s sound since mid 2000's and more recently has contributed more keyboard and synth parts to the live shows. Marcel is a really gifted drummer who has been playing on records of his older brother Omar Rodriguez-Lopez for many years now. Marcel has been dedicating a lot time to another project of his, Zechs Marquise. The release of a second full length, Getting Paid, has come forth this year and is a record we have had on constant rotation since it was released. Zechs Marquise is a group that is as beautiful, progressive, enlightening, raw and electrifying as The Mars Volta. If you have been fortune enough to see a live show, there is nothing I can really tell you that you don’t know.

In 2009, Zech’s Marquise gave the world Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare, a full length debut that was released on 2xLP with Willie Anderson Recordings in Netherlands and on digital and cd formats with Rodriguez Lopez Productions. Included with core members Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez (bass), Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez (keys), Marcos Smith (guitar) and Matthew Wilkson (guitar) is guest appearances from Adrián Terrazas-González (The Mars Volta, T.R.A.M., El Regimen) playing saxophone, Michael Farraro adding drums and trumpet contributions from Rikardo Rodriguez-Lopez. The high velocity of their live shows was still something that was not fully captured with this release. Could that ever be? As good as Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare is, the production work and compositions on their newest LP Getting Paid is testament to the fact that yes, it can be.

Getting Paid is one of the newest releases from Los Angeles based media production organization Sargent House and the ominous Rodriguez Lopez Productions. 12 tracks and a little under an hour, Getting Paid was recorded at Eureka’s Castle and Castle Grayskull in El Paso, Texas. Including the same core members as the previous record, Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez takes over drums duties along with the keyboard and synthesizer additions. Guest additions this time around come from Matt Embree of RX Bandits, El Paso singer Sonny Baker and incredible remix work from Low End Theory’s DJ Nobody, Brainfeeder recording artist Charles Dickerson aka Mono/Poly and Eureka The Butcher.

The ground covered on Getting Paid is staggering when considering the type of rhythms, time changes, effects being used and the overall tools utilized from the band to create this body of work. The record starts off with the title song and doesn’t leave any time getting right into the type of wild vehicle of expression that is present on every track. As soon as the band breaks out into the mix together, they drop out and Marcel runs a small sequence of a snake like melody that continues into the section started in the beginning that is reprised. Compositional value is a must when age comes into those creating the music, and Getting Paid is a really advanced album in that area.

‘Lack Jaw Night Vision’ has that voodoo Latin punk groove that his group Volta was slamming out show after show in the number ‘Drunkship of Lanters’. With cross diving guitar patterns that dance all over the mix, there is a very devious and dark sound present on this record. All of this winds up into an 8-bit video game soundtrack sound, you’d think this was an Advantage song at certain moments. A little after two minutes, the song breaks down into a hazy thick Latin rock groove with some of the best recorded percussion I have heard in a long time. All of those nice wavering sheets of layers and layers of effects that Omar Rodriguez-Lopez has become known for are all over this record. The guitar work can be tricky at times from Marcos Smith and Matthew Wilkson, blanketing itself in the hologram of another instrument.

My favorite song on the record has to be ‘Guajira’. Starting off with a percussion heavy intro, the guitar that makes up the first section sounds really elegant, spacey with lots of complexion. A lot of this album took me to the experiences I had with the Omar Rodriguez-Lopez record Apocalypse Inside of an Orange. If you are unfamiliar, it has that really dreamy car ride along a coast feel, very hypnotic and smooth. If you are familiar with Apocalypse Inside of an Orange, Getting Paid has the same type of sonic variation and mature composition work as that album. Getting Paid is something you really need to check out for yourself.

The album cover work was designed by Zeque Peña with layout by the one and only Sonny Kay. With a nod to Marvel and DC Comics alumni Bill Sienkiewicz and more particularly his cover work for RZA’s Bobby Digital in Stereo, there is even the same surround sound cymbal, with this cover instead saying “in MEGASLAP SURROUND”. The cover design also portrays the album art for soundtrack scores to blaxploitation era films of the 60's and 70's. Soundtrack scores from pivotal soul, fusion, jazz and r&b artists like Roy Ayers, George Duke, Groover Washington Jr,  and so many more. For this lovely cover, an owl, lion, gorilla and elephant represent the members of the band behind a backdrop of tranquil and relaxing colors with all of the characters on the cover representing the classic b-boy stance. Ancient Egypt to a low rider, the cover of Getting Paid is one I don’t even know where to begin when it comes to analyzing. Maybe it is best served that way.

The following is an excerpt from the press release Sargent House gave for this record:

The album was entirely produced and engineered by Marcel. “We started off recording percussion to sequencers and loops,” he explains. “I chopped those sounds up and arranged them. From there, we wrote the album with each of us coming in and playing on top of it. Kind of like a hip-hop song.” Considering the hectic tour schedules of both Zechs Marquise and The Mars Volta (in which Marcel plays keyboards and percussion), the band was forced to work on the album over an extended period of time in between both band’s tours. “It gave us a lot of time to get perspective on the songs,” Marfred says. “We’re really happy with and proud of this record.”

Once all parts were composed using the studio as a tool, the band re-recorded the album live. “We wanted something to represent our live energy,” says Marfred.

Getting Paid goes in my book for one of the best progressive rock albums of 2011. The cross merging cultures of todays age are a reflection of where we are going and Zechs Marquise is a group who will surely be heading one of these many new frontiers of sound. Below we have included a very recent video from video production house Terror Eyes for Zechs Marquise performing the title track from Getting Paid in Los Angeles in late September of this year. Enjoy!

By Erik Otis

Zechs Marquise perform “Getting Paid” from the new album of the same name while in Los Angeles for a Terroreyes.TV Session. The band will take their live show out on the road with some headlining dates and some with Thursday, Maylene & The Sons of Disaster and Native. If you haven’t heard the new album yet, what are you waiting for? STREAM or DL HERE.

ZECHS MARQUISE LIVE11/15  Houston, TX @ Fitzgerald’s - Upstairs11/16  New Orleans, LA @ Howlin’ Wolf Den11/18  Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 50611/19  Greenville, NC @ Tipsy Teapot11/20  Washington, DC @ DC911/21  Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie11/22  Allston, MA @ O’Brien’s Pub11/23  New York, NY @ Irving Plaza $11/25  Toronto, ON @ The Opera House $11/26  Pittsburgh, PA @ Altar Bar $11/27  Milwaukee, WI @ The Pabst Theater $11/28  Cleveland Heights, OH @ Grog Shop $11/30  Atlanta, GA @ The Loft $12/01  Cincinnati, OH @ 20th Century Theater $12/02  Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge $12/03  Pontiac, MI @ iLounge (at Clutch Cargos) $12/04  Rochester, NY @ Montage Music Hall $12/06  St Louis, MO @ The Firebird12/07  Lawrence, KS @ Jackpot Music Hall12/08  Dallas, TX @ Bryan Street Tavern12/09  Austin, TX @ Antone’s Night Club12/10  San Antonio, TX @ Studio 13$ w/ Thursday, Maylene & The Sons of Disaster, Native

Zechs Marquise session with Terroreyes.TV shot right before their record release show at Low End Theory @ The Airliner

Zechs MarquiseSong: “Getting Paid”9.28.11Los Angeles, CACamera: Sean Stout / Chase OrtegaEdit: Sean StoutORL ProductionsSargenthouse

Zechs Marquise w/ Equals and Parking

Zechs Marquise w/ TBA

Zechs Marquise w/ TBA

Zechs Marquise w/ TBA

Zechs Marquise w/ TBA

Zechs Marquise w/ TBA

Zechs Marquise w/ TBA

Zechs Marquise w/ TBA

Zechs Marquise w/ TBA

Zechs Marquise w/ TBA

Zechs Marquise w/ TBA

Zechs Marquise w/ TBA

L-R: Matt Wilkson, Riko Rodriguez-Lopez, Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez, Marcos Smith, and Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez

On a warm autumn day in Southern California over cold beer and YouTube videos, the members of Zechs Marquise talk of their recent boating experience.

“It was a day off [during the RX Bandits farewell tour] and we all went to [Shasta Lake],” bassist Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez explains. Drummer Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez (who also handles percussion duties in The Mars Volta) chimes in, “[RX Bandits] rented a boat for us!”

An El Paso instrumental group comprised of three brothers and two childhood friends, Zechs Marquise has been doing much more than plain sailing at sea. This year alone, the band has completed stints alongside Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group, as well as the aforementioned RX Bandits farewell trek. In September, the band released its sophomore studio album Getting Paid — a record, the group says, that encompasses the beauty of songwriting.

“We’ve definitely worked a lot more on arranging our music as of recently,” guitarist Matt Wilkson comments, adding that the band would play shows in the early days with 20-minute songs. “Not everyone wants to sit through that.”

Zechs Marquise stopped in at Bonnerhaus to give candid insight into Getting Paid, discuss the seeming rise of instrumental bands, and to talk about that one time Mastodon showed up at a gig in Atlanta.

A few footnotes: This interview is a follow-up to our 2010 Zechs Marquise conversation, which, interestingly enough, was conducted in former RX Bandits frontman Matt Embree’s backyard. As previously mentioned, Getting Paid was released in September via Rodriguez-Lopez Productions, and can be streamed in its entirety on Bandcamp. Additionally, the band will batten down the hatches in late November to embark on a run with Thursday and Maylene and the Sons of Disaster; a 2009 Ryan’s Rock Show interview with Thursday can be seen here, while our 2009 interview with Maylene can be viewed here.  And to conclude, here’s a pic we took of Zechs Marquise performing at a strip club in LA:

Let’s talk about Riko, the younger Rodriguez-Lopez brother who recently joined Zechs Marquise. How did he end up in the band?

The Rodríguez-López family line of music continually pours into the new decade as Mars Volta guru Omar Rodríguez-López passes the torch to his three brothers Marcel, Marfred and Rikardo, who all share a groovy spot in the El Paso based instrumental group ZechsMarquise. “Getting Paid,” the band’s second full-length album, proves to be a concrete epic that borders a variety of experimental sounds and psychotropic jamming fever. Compared to their debut “Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare,” this album strays away from the usual mindless noodling and brings forth a set of solid instrumental tracks, each of which have a unique vibe and feeling.

The album immediately lifts off as the title track brings in an enticing and tight groove accompanied by eerie synth harmonies. “Lock Jaw Night Vision” starts off with a haunting ambient aroma not long before guitars start jamming to dub stepped effects. Soon enough all hell breaks loose as the whole band thrashes an expansive progression of chords. “The Heat, The Drought, The Thirst and The Insanity” slows things down with a guest vocal spot by Sunnie Baker backed by psychedelically despaired riffs and evocative synth. “Time Masters” is another clever track with fast raging synth mixed in with bongo percussion that slowly leads to an intensive and wide ranging infusion of sound. The album continues on with the bongos as the band delivers a tight sentimental groove on“Guajira.” This song holds a strong similarity to a Mars Volta track in its structure but is unique in its essence.

“An Everlasting Beacon of Light” climaxes the album’s near end with Matt Embree on guest vocals. Marcel tears up a tight hip-hop beat as the song builds slowly into an epic jam off. Marcos Smith begins a whirling wah guitar solo as the whole band kicks in full speed into a ferocious ending. “Crushin It” and “Mega Slap” end the album fittingly without taking away the heavy psychedelic momentum of the album.

“Getting Paid” doesn’t waste a second of time and goes straight to the point while leaving enough space for each member to improvise and express their instruments. The band’s cooperative camaraderie really influences the result of this record. Zechs Marquise has developed so much musically and improved on how they sound. The album cover art, done by Zeque Peña, also adds a nice touch as each animal represents a member of the band. With not much to complain about, “Getting Paid” holds very strong for a band that deserves a lot more spotlight.

By Hovig Sarkissian, Staff Writer

Getting Paid is a reinvention of Zech Marquise’s psychedelic-progressive rock groove where Marcel, Rikardo, and Marfred Rodriguez Lopez, brothers to Mars Volta’s Omar Rodriguez Lopez, introduce a different approach to laying out an album and for the first time ever, crack out some vocals to accompany their riffs and beats.

Here’s their take on the outcome of the album just one day after its release, and a peek into their live performance at L.A.’s The Airliner on September 28th. More Fall 2011 dates can be seen here.

The members of Zechs Marquise are giving fans an inside look into their instruments, how they record, their live gear set up, some tips and tricks, their music collections and what gear makes their sound unique and much more. Be sure to pick up a copy of their newly released full-length album Getting Paid.-

What was your first piece of music gear and how old were you?Guitarist Matthew Wilkson: Trumpet at 10. I did play it constantly until I got my first guitar at 11, and was more drawn to it. My guitar was a Yamaha FG-401 acoustic, and I still use it daily.-Bassist Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez: When I was 11 my parents bought me an acoustic guitar. After a while I realized I liked the bass a lot more so when I was 13, I was given a replica of Paul McCartney’s Hofner bassthat my brother had given my dad. I thought it looked so cool because the shape was modeled after a violin and Paul had one just like it, except his was a lefty. I played it here and there but it wasn’t until I got my Fender Jazz Bass a year later that I started playing all the time.-Guitarist Marcos Smith: Epiphone classical guitar.  When I first got it I played it alllllllllllll the time.  I wish I still had that much time to practice.-

What instruments do you own?

Guitarist Matthew Wilkson: Mostly electric/acoustic guitar, but I still practice and write with my old P Bassthat I used to use in punk rock bands. I also do some work with sequencers, but I am certainly not an expert.-Bassist Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez:They are all basses: 2001 Fender Precision (U.S.A.), 1973Rickenbacker 4001, an early 90's Fender Custom Shop Fretless Precision(U.S.A.), 2005 Hohner Acoustic, and a 1997 Fender Jazz (Mexico)-

Guitarist Marcos Smith: one fender Stratocaster-What is your favorite instrument, or piece of gear?Guitarist Matthew Wilkson: My favorite instrument to play is my acoustic, but my favorite new piece of equipment is my Line 6 m9.-Bassist Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez: It would have to be my 2001 Fender P-Bass, I use it ALL the time, I absolutely love the way it sounds. It growls!-Guitarist Marcos Smith: My guitar, because it is the only thing I have.--

Do you collect any instruments?Guitarist Matthew Wilkson: I never like to get rid of any gear, so inevitably I have a small collection of gear. I have learned my lesson though because that all of the gear that I have let go of in the past, I have missed later. I keep it all now.-Bassist Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez: Basses! Different basses from different years, different makes and different models.-Guitarist Marcos Smith: I wish I could afford to.-

What pieces of gear make your sound unique?Guitarist Matthew Wilkson: I used to think a unique sound was all about getting that perfect amp, tubes, pedal etc. Don’t get me wrong it does help to a certain degree, but really a unique sound comes from the musician. I have seen people use the best equipment and sound poor, while I have also seen many musicians who use whatever junky instrument they could get their hands on to sound incredible. It is really more about being able to utilize the things that you have in order to create your own unique sound. I most frequently use my Boss DD5.

-Bassist Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez: I’d have to say the Foxx Tone Machine gives my tone a certain bite. That is hands down the best fuzz pedal I have ever used for bass.-

Guitarist Marcos Smith: Clavinet, Mellotron, Line 6 m9.-Does your live set up differ from what you record with?Guitarist Matthew Wilkson: Always! In the studio you have the luxury of being able to use multiple amplifiers within one song, or switch out multiple vintage pedals that are too old, valuable and sometimes unreliable to tour with. So, many times I will use certain things live that Sound close to the original for that reason.

-Bassist Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez: Yes, in the studio I like to use all my basses. They each have their own unique tone, sometimes I use one per song or a couple in the same song. My pedal set up changes as well. In the studio we have a large arsenal of pedals to work with, some songs have one or multiple effects, some songs have none. It all depends on what works best. Live, I like to keep it simple: one bass (2001 Fender P-Bass) and lately two pedals (Foxx Tone Machine and Line 6 M9).-

Guitarist Marcos Smith: Yes.  In the studio Marcel utilizes a clavinet, a melotron, percusion, and all kinds of synthesizers. On stage we have to compromise although with Rico now in the band we now sound a bit more like we do in the studio when we play live.-What do you look for when you are buying an instrument? Does it have to have a sweet paint job?Guitarist Matthew Wilkson: Something just draws your interest toward certain things. Sometimes it is only because you know it’s sonic capabilities, and other times you will try something out because of it’s aesthetic quality. I am most concerned with how something sounds though, looks are extremely secondary.

-Bassist Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez: The sound of course but like anything, the look is also important (shape, color, knob and switch layout, etc.).-

Guitarist Marcos Smith: The first thing I notice is the way it looks.  I like natural wood finishes and dark colors.  The other thing I look for is the way it sounds.-Have you ever broken an instrument, or gotten any gear stolen?Guitarist Matthew Wilkson: Luckily, (while knocking on wood) I haven’t had either happen. However, I did come to practice when Zechs was a very new band to find that our former drummer decided to turn my bass guitar into a personal wood work project of his. He had stripped the paint and sanded the whole bass down, and stained it a new color without my knowledge. Needless to say, I was really disappointed. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to realize that disappointment because he later removed the tolex from my vintage 67' Fender Bandmaster. Still sounds the same though!

-

Bassist Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez: I’ve never had a piece of gear stolen thank god. Broken? Only slightly, simply from wear and tear. My 2001 Fender P-Bass had to have the pick-ups re-soldered as well as the input changed out and the nut on the J-Bass is broken and has to be replaced.-Guitarist Marcos Smith: No, I have dropped my guitar at two different shows while playing and it doesn’t have to bad of scars on its body.-How often do you practice?Guitarist Matthew Wilkson: I personally practice every day as much as I can. It feels good to work hard at something and watch yourself progress. If you are such a badass that you feel no need to practice, you shouldn’t be playing professionally. Practicing is part of the job.—

Bassist Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez: I try and practice everyday even if its just for 30 minutes, although sometimes I’ll go a few days without practicing.-Guitarist Marcos Smith: I try to play on my own for a couple hours at least 4 times a week.  Before a show or tour we rehearse everyday for sometimes up to a month.-

Is setting up for shows ever a nightmare?Guitarist Matthew Wilkson: Setting up shows is always time consuming. There is a lot more that goes into setting up a show, let alone an entire tour, that the spectator never has the opportunity to appreciate. Now that Zechs Marquise has a booking agent, I don’t have to book as much and I can concentrate more on my job as a musician.

-Bassist Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez: I’ve got that on lock down! Using only two pedals live helps if any trouble shooting needs to be done.-

Guitarist Marcos Smith: Setting up shows is always a nightmare.  You have to worry about if the promoter is sketchy, if the venue has a bad rep, getting paid, making sure merch is up to date, whether or not people will show up…. the list goes on forever.-Do you think the best instruments come with a high price tag?Guitarist Matthew Wilkson: Certainly not! Although some of the most sought after instruments are pricey, some of my favorite things I own have cost me very little money.-Bassist Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez: Not necessarily, you can find a bad ass piece of gear for a low price. Its all about looking in the right places, there are some great deals out there.

-Guitarist Marcos Smith: If I could afford all the gear I want I could easily spend 10s of thousands of dollars.  A badass piece of gear is worth the high price tag to me.  It is always awesome when you find cool gear for cheap though.

-Do you have any awesome teachers or stories about learning?Guitarist Matthew Wilkson: My first teacher was a guy named Dan Lambert from El Paso, who taught me how to play certain songs that I liked, which I think helped me to develop a better ear. Other than that I pretty much taught myself by using books, videos or just trial and error. The best ideas are made by accident!

-Bassist Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez: Nope, not really. I never took any lessons. I’ve learned mostly from books and watching other people play and listening to what they have to say.-Guitarist Marcos Smith: One thing that I will always remember is something that Marcel was told, that he in turn told me.  We had been geeking out about music and what it takes to make it and be a professional musician, in a professional band.  He said “you gotta do your homework”.  What he meant was that you have to practice all the time and try to discover new things in your playing.  He also meant that you have to listen to and research everything about music, like what types of gear do you favorite musicians like, or what other dudes played on your favorite albums beside the band leaders. Basically make music your life.  Now it is something that I tell to people and fans who tell me that they are in a band. Hope that didn’t sound to cheesy.

-Are there any instruments, or gear, that your band mates play that you wish they wouldn’t?Guitarist Matthew Wilkson: No, I like that all of us play a couple of instruments; some more than others. If there was ever an instrument that one of us didn’t like in a song, we would be honest enough to discuss it’s position in the composition.--Bassist Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez: No, everyone has good taste as far as tones and effects but we are definitely on the look out for anything that sounds whack.

-Guitarist Marcos Smith: I think we would try to make any instrument sound good no matter what it is.  If you run a kazoo through delay, reverb, and fuzz; who knows it might sound amazing.

-- Visit Zechs Marquise

It’s well known that there is some vigorous musical talent running in the Rodríguez-López’ blood flow. I’m flabbergasted by El Paso’s Zechs Marquise’s latest sophomore release Getting Paid (via Rodríguez-López Productions – you can read our review here), and my devotion to prog-funky-jazz rock is at a high.

Talking to bassist Marfred Rodríguez-López via telephone for the first time felt like I was talking to someone I already knew; the dude’s super cool and chill. It’s probably that border town charm we fronterizos have (*cheesy wink*). In this interview, he talks about the band’s recording studio catching on fire, his experience residing near one of the most dangerous cities in the world, the pressures of being Omar Rodríguez-López‘ brother, and his love of hip hop.

_______________________________________

Your album Getting Paid is titled as if it were a hip hop record, and so are some of the songs, like “Crushing It” and “Mega Slap,” yet the music doesn’t sound hip-hop. So, where does that swag  in the titles come from?

It just comes from one basic idea: getting paid. We’re broke, you know. We don’t have a lot of cash. The overall attitude for the song names, and the way they came out is just…. we wanted to make a more cohesive record, so to say something a little more focused, and that had more energy on it; something livelier. With that mentality, we went in the studio, and recorded each song. The last song on the record implies that “slap.”

I read that this upcoming album was constructed as if it were a soundtrack to a movie. Considering this, how does the creative process differ from My Delicate Stranded Nightmare?

They were both approached the same way, which is that we wanted to record a record, went in and just started recording. None of the material was rehearsed prior to actually recording the tracks. Each song is kind of a little story as opposed to the last record where it was just one long piece. It was one continuous roll, whereas this latest is just a bunch of independent short stories. They all have their own thing to say in the entire scope of the album.

It took two years to release the album it due to a hazardous situation in the recording studio, right? What happened with that?

My parents have this huge three-car-garage, which they don’t use at all. About five years ago, my brothers and I got this idea to make it into a studio, and put hardwood floors in it. But the short of it is that a couple years ago it did catch on fire, as soon as we started recording, a portion of the house also caught on fire. This caused us to have to move all of our gear and equipment to Marcel’s house to record the record to keep it going. Then from there, the computer crashed and we had to go get it fixed and get a new hard drive. So it was one thing on top of the other, as well as getting the songs the way we wanted them to sound, and not be like, “Oh, you know I wish we would have had more time to re-work that, or maybe we should have used something different for that part right there.” So, aside from things going wrong externally it was also a matter of getting things right, musically.

Growing up in a family of musicians, how much of an influence were your brothers or dad with your personal and creative development?

I guess they’re all responsible. Because we are from a musical family, and we get much support, not just from our father, but our brother as well. My dad did a lot of things to give us the life that we do have, which is, you know, we can go out and pursue a career in music. It’s nice to have that kind of support from your family as a whole. My brothers and my parents influenced on me as a person and on what I want to do.

__________________________________________________

WE USED TO GO OVER TO CD. JUÁREZ TO HAVE LUNCH, ORGO TO ONE OF THE BARS CLOSE TO THE BORDER AND HAVE AFEW DRINKS, OR GO TO EL MERCADO.WE CAN’T DO THAT ANYMORE.

__________________________________________________

Did you choose to be the bassist or is that where you landed in bands with your bros?

I actually chose it when we were growing up. Omar used to play bass and I played guitar. These were the two instruments that we were learning how to play. But there’s just something that I like more about the bass, the way that it sounded, the groove of it, and that low frequency. The way that I always thought I used to like, you know, just like any little kid does; dancing a lot to music. Then, as I got older I realized that a lot of that is due to the bass. I just love the richness of the instrument. I learned to play it because I liked the way that it sounded, but then I just wanted to play that instrument because I really wanted to learn how to understand it better.

At times, did you feel a certain sense of pressure, jealousy or competition from your brothers, or from Omar back when he released a new album like every month or so?

No, not really. Um, he kind of has the means to do it — it’s his career. He doesn’t have to worry about anything except putting out music. And as far as pressure goes, yes. That’s always going to be there because Omar is my brother, and that stigma carries over to our band — you know, with people thinking that we don’t deserve proper credibility, or that we’re going to get so far because of my brother’s name and his success. It’s like any young sibling who’s going to look for some kind of approval from their older brothers, especially when you look up to them growing up as a kid. So the only kind of pressure is creatively. We all work very well together so there’s really no pressure from any kind of outlet because we believe heavily in what we’re doing and are proud of it.

El Paso is Cd. Juárez’s twin city, where significant social, cultural, and artistic happenings often collide. Cd. Juárez is infamous for all the turmoil happening there. Has this in any way disrupted or challenged your creativity or everyday life?

In a way yes, because it’s a scary thing to think that the town we share a border with is one of the most dangerous cities in the world. It kind of has changed culture around here. We have a lot of the citizens from Juárez coming over to live here now because of how bad the situation has gotten there. So we experienced a growth in El Paso’s population, so at times it’s no longer safe there too. We used to go over to Juárez just to have lunch, or go to one of the bars close to the border, just to go have a few drinks, or go to the mercado. We can’t do that anymore. It’s kind of altered a lot of things as far as the way El Paso was in the past. So in a way it kind of hasn’t grinded any kind of work to a halt over here, but it’s different now than, say, six years ago.

What about the music scene? Have there been any notable influences because of the migration to El Paso? Is there something happening artistically right now?

For the most part is not too much musically, but artistically. A lot of poets and painters have come out of that, just because of the kind of violence that we’re seeing over here; you know, from over there. It hasn’t spilled over into this side yet. Musically, in some cases it has. Us being an instrumental band, we have no words to give a message per se. But I’ve noticed that a lot of the bands around here have a lot more activity towards helping families and citizens of Juaréz just with art events. So, it has influenced the scene in some way.

You’re Puerto Rican, and you live in this Tex-Mex area. How has that played a role? Or better yet: what’s your favorite and least favorite part about being a Puerto Rican in a Tex-Mex location?

My favorite thing is the culture. I love the food, and I really like being here. I guess my least favorite thing is…. well, even being Puerto Rican that it gets pointed out here especially when I speak in Spanish. People are like, “Oh, you’re not from around here, and you’re not from México, where are you from?” So it’s kind of impolite that some people choose to make fun of it. I’ll just think, “You know, I speak the same language as you, it’s just a different accent and some words that are different.” Well, it’s not too bad. There’s not a whole lot that I hate about El Paso. I actually love being here.

Do you guys have any rituals to prepare you before going onstage? Maybe have some energy drinks? Drugs? I don’t know, anything… vitamins?

[Laughter] I guess as far as the ritual goes, we typically like to meet up before the show, because when we’re at the performing space, we’re doing different things: either we’re out at the merch table, hanging out with friends, sometimes we want to go eat. We typically like to always meet twenty to thirty minutes before our set. Basically, all we do is just stretch, listen to music and then talk. Occasionally, we’ll smoke a blunt or something depending on how the evening has gone so far. Energy drinks are a rarity, only when it’s been a string of like five to seven shows with drives between each one –you know, like seven to eight hour drives– something to get that little boost. But usually the ritual is just to be around each other right before we go on stage, and of course the well wishes right as we’re walking out.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen on a Zechs Marquise concert?

On a couple of occasions — it’s not really that crazy but more of a gutsy move on people — we’ve had it happen twice where somebody actually manages to get up on stage and try to sing or talk into the mike. It was a funny thing just that it happened, someone went like, “they don’t have a singer, so I’m going to go up there and sing.” Then you have to get someone to get them out of there. But I guess a non-crazy thing that’s happened, not to us but when we’ve been at other shows, when Matt [Embree] from RX Bandits, their singer, started cutting his hair onstage because he felt it was too long. That was an interesting situation.

Who are you listening to at this time? Any specific records that influenced Getting Paid?

Lately I’ve been on an Outkast kick. They’re probably my favorite hip hop group, and I’ve been listening to all their records lately. But, mostly just them and gangster rap. It’s really weird. I mean I love hip-hop and it’s one of the first types of music that I really started to follow. That’s what I’ve been locked into lately and what’s been playing in the car.

__________________________________________________

ONE THING WE TALK ABOUT CONSTANTLY AND IN FACT INSPIREDOUR FIRST RECORD IS THAT HERE ON PLANET EARTH WE HAVEN’TEXPLORED 100% OF THE OCEAN YET. FOR ALL WE KNOW, THERE’SCRAZY SHIT HERE ON OUR OWN PLANET.

__________________________________________________

So maybe there is that ‘gangstah’ influence to “Getting Paid,” “Crushin’ it” and “Mega Slap”!!

Yeah, we all kind of come from that hip hop background even though we all used to go to punk shows growing up. Hip hop was the first root where we were like, “oh man, this feels good.” We were also growing up at the time when hip hop artists were putting out lots of really good records in the that industry at the time.

On your Facebook page under genres you guys have listed “music from outer space.” Are you guys infatuated with otherworldly objects, or just because it sounds “intergalactic”?

I guess it’s a little of both. We are fascinated with the unknown or the final frontier, or anything like that. It’s not even necessarily an otherworldly thing. One thing that we used to talk about constantly and in fact inspired a lot of the first record is that here on planet Earth we haven’t explored 100% of the ocean yet. For all we know there’s crazy shit here on our own planet. We have kind of been fascinated by space travel, time travel, other worlds unlike our own, different cultures, stuff like that.

Have you seen Ancient Alien on Netflicks?

[laughs] No.

I’ve been addicted to that show, I’m sorry.

Is it good? Somebody was actually telling me about that last week. I have to check it out.

What other upcoming projects do you have underway?

Well we have a few small tours for the album release, then in November we’ll be going out to the east coast for like three weeks. Then we’ll be touring the South, the East Coast, and the Midwest. In between now and then, we’ll be working on the next record, which we already have a grip of materials for. We were starting work on it when we did Getting Paid but we wanted to focus more on one record as opposed to recording both of them at the same time.

Any other details about the next record?

Right now as far as the material goes, it will be a lot heavier compared to “Getting Paid” but it still will have that kind of high energy funk that we did put out on this last record.

Any last words?

Pick up Getting Paid. Pick that shit up and get it paid.

BY Isabela Raygoza

Forget the Van Halens, if you want to know about a true musical dynasty, look no further than the Rodriguez-Lopez’s! In between Omar, Marcel, and Marfred, these talented hermanos are changing the face of free-form jamming. Omar and Marcel’s Mars Volta outfit has won Grammys and made major dents on the Billboard charts. And Marfred’s ensemble, Zechs Marquise, is making big musical strides too, particularly with their new release, Getting Paid.

“We had a ton of fun making Getting Paid,” Marfred told us in an exclusive interview. “We spent a lot of time on the songs and were really happy with the end result.”

Described by critics as an “otherworldly groove album,” Paid features all of the prog rock elements that Volta fans have come to love. Zechs had previously gotten attention for their 2008 debut, Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare. Though he was proud of that work, Marfred explained that Nightmare was a much darker record and differs greatly from Getting Paid.

“Our last record was very dark and moody,” he explained. “But this one has a lot more light. It’s way more colorful and it has more energy.”

Just looking at Paid’s album cover, that’s easy to see. Featuring a combination of suited owls, elephants, gorillas, and lions, it’s got quite a bit of symbolism buried beneath the lines. Though Marfred claimed that the cover art does not contain subliminal clues, he did admit that its imagery was open to interpretation.

“Every song on this album is its own character,” he said. “We wanted the artwork on the album to fully represent that.”

As the resident bass player of the band, Rodriquez-Lopez gets quite a few moments to shine on Paid. Typical tracks on the record can run anywhere from three to eight-minutes (with plenty of monster jams included). And though Marfred claimed to love everything on the record, he did admit to having a few faves.

“My favorite one to play is ‘Mega Slap!’”  he openly confessed. “Although ‘Getting Paid’ and ‘Crushin It!’ are awesome live jams too.”

You can check out all 9 experimental tracks on Zechs Marquise’s Getting Paid, which is in stores now.  By Michael Lopez

Zechs Marquise will be joining Thursday, Maylene And The Sons of Disaster & Native for a short tour this winter. Below are the dates we will also be adding a few others they have lined up as headliners, so keep an eye out for additions to come. 

ZECHS MARQUISE LIVEOct 07 - El Paso, TX @ LA Parada at San Carlos Bldg 

Thursday, Maylene & The Sons of Disaster, Zechs Marquise, Native Shows Nov 23 - New York, NY @ Irving Plaza Nov 25 - Toronto, ON @ The Opera House Nov 26 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Altar Bar // Early show Big LineupNov 27 - Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theater Nov 28 - Cleveland Heights, OH @ Grog ShopNov 30 - Atlanta, GA @ The LoftDec 01 - Cincinatti, OH @ 20th Century Theater Dec 02 - Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge Dec 03 - Detroit, MI @ The Eagle Dec 04 - Rochester, NY @ Montage Music Hall 

Zechs Marquise: Getting PaidZechs Marquise must have a great sense of irony to name their new record Getting Paid. I say that because Zech Marquise play instrumental prog-rock, not exactly a cash cow genre. Yet I must admit that their sophomore album is infinitely more accessible than their debut.The band’s debut album, Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare was a difficult piece to be sure. It bounced from soft symphonic music to freak out noise crescendos. Getting Paid is a much more even keel record. It sounds like the band came to the studio ready to party.The album opens with the titular track. The track borrows influence simultaneously from Edgar Winter‘s “Frankenstein” and the soundtrack to Killer of Sheep. The track is funky and experimental and reminds me a little of RJD2‘s “The Horror.”A good majority of the album keeps the same general vibe. The songs that delineate are the tracks with guest vocalists. The album features appearances by Matt Embree and Sunnie Baker. These tracks do pale in comparison to their instrumental brethren but do not sully the album.Considering instrumental prog-rock is not a genre I often get to cover or generally listen to, Getting Paid really caught my attention. The album manages to make a genre that is generally inaccessible feel almost mainstream worthy.Rating: 8.5/10   / by Adam Morgan 

Thanks to patcartelli for posting this awesome Zechs Marquise poster.

Thrusting listeners into chase scenes through psychedelic dreamscapes is nothing new for El Paso prog rock instrumentalists Zechs Marquise. However, the major difference on their latest album, “Getting Paid” (out Tuesday on Rodriguez Lopez Productions via Sargent House), isn’t the fear of being chased, but of what’s running up behind you.  

Through the incorporation of boom bap beats and sci-fi funk, the images of creepy, red-eyed specters haunting their first album, “Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare,” have been replaced by ’70s mobsters, Kung Fu assassins and gun-toting Willie Dynamite lookalikes.

And while it’s not hard to see where Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez and his brothers Marcel and Rikardo garner much of their influence (their older brother is psych rock demigod Omar Rodriguez-Lopez of The Mars Volta), “Getting Paid” adds more concise rhythmic formulas into their Latin-spiked jam band roots.

It makes sense when you consider their longtime friendships and cross pollinations in the underground L.A.  beat scene with artists like DJ Nobody, Daedelus and Busdriver. So much so that the news that they’ll be holding their album release party Wednesday as part of the Low End Theory at the Airliner seems like a natural choice.

The ideas for “Getting Paid” were hatched in 2009 with a handful of chopped-up electronic beat sequences hammered out by Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez (who splits time as the percussionist in the Mars Volta and the Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group). From the foundation of those beats came a number of impromptu jams from guitarists Marcos Smith and Matthew Wilkson.

“The idea was to have each song have that element of life and catchiness and a bit of hip-hop influence while making the tracks distinctly different from one another,”  Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez said in a recent phone interview with Pop & Hiss. Since their start in 2003, this is the band’s first album to be distributed on a larger indie label like Sargent House.

But this definitely isn’t a 180-degree change for the group. Their proclivity for pairing for Tito Puente-inspired salsa grooves with guitar pedal atmospherics still results in many similarities to The Mars Volta. The main difference is that these jams come with a dose of ’70s vibes that are less about ‘shrooms and more about gold chains and candy-colored Chevy El Dorados.

[The new album] definitely steered us into a different direction,” said Marfred. “I’d say it spawned a lot more creativity from the group as a whole. And we’re looking forward to applying that to the next album as well.”

A big thanks to Cedric Bixler Zavala for making this video for Mega Slap. Shot entirely on his phone while on tour this past March 2011 with ORLG. Much love. 

Greg’s Take- Zechs Marquise: Getting Paid

The world is being taken over by Rodriguez–Lopez’s; and I’m fully on board.

It must be something within the family name that automatically makes you capable of having an immense impact on music. Brothers Marfred and Marcel are back with a follow up to their 2009 release Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare.

Launching into the stratosphere with their sophomore release Getting Paid,the quintet fromEl Paso is back with a vengeance. Marcos Smith and Matthew Wilkson shred through their fret boards like nobody’s business with meticulous madness. These guys add a worldly touch to an electrified jam session and the result is unimaginable. This is an album where you simply have to see for yourself.

Produced by Marcel, the band pieced it all together over time until they found what worked and ultimately sat down and recorded it all together live. Getting Paid skews the ever-changing landscape of music with its pioneering style. A style deeply rooted in soulful jazz and modern progressive sound. The first and title track dishes up a hip-hop electronic style that had me wondering if I was listening to an RJD2 album. The variation of styles throughout is simply cinematographic. Each track is a dance that is just out of reach of being visualized, but easily felt and heard. Zechs Marquise keeps every track unique and almost entirely instrumental. It lacks any substantial vocal presence until seven tracks in on “Everlasting Beacon of Light” where the vocals are utilized as an instrument more than they deliver words. The finite details of this album utilize even the empty spaces masterfully.

As a writer you’re supposed to use words like “extraordinary” and “noteworthy” to describe albums like this. But let’s face it, this album is awesome! In all of its brilliance and form, Getting Paid is a must have. It will captivate and rock you to your core. It also just might get you on board for the Rodriguez–Lopez revolution when it’s released September 27^th through none other than Rodriguez Lopez Productions.

Clay’s Take- Zechs Marquise: Getting Paid

If you follow certain sportswriters, then you may be tired of HBO’s The Wire as metaphor for X.  Or if you know anyone who watched the show, you may be tired of them asking “you know what show you should watch?”  You may be tired of the fact this is the second review I’ve mentioned it in this week; it is pure happenstance, I assure you.  My own two cents on the show, for what it’s worth, is that the show challenged me to think about what I was watching and to view a world completely outside of my own.

Guess where this is leading?  If you guessed “Zechs Marquise put out an album that challenged me to think about how I listened to music,” then you heard the horn coming on my premise even before it came around the bend.  If there is one thing the brothers Rodriguez-Lopez know how to do, it is giving their listeners an all-you-can-eat buffet of aural goodness.

In their sophomore release, Getting Paid, Zechs Marquise further distance themselves from a supporting character and cult favorite of the Mobile Suit Gundam Wing series as well as their sibling-linked venture, The Mars Volta.  This release did something that neither The Mars Volta nor Zechs Marquise’s debut album Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare could do: they made a fan out of me.

Their space/prog rock sound has matured and crystallized into a cohesive arrangement that is layered like a parfait stacked nine stories high.  The dueling guitars of Marcos Smith and Matthew Wilkson traverse from fuzzy to dirty to spacey to dreamy and a little 70s funky.  Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez blazes his own path on bass divergent from the guitars and the crisp-yet-complex drumming from his brother Marcel.  I would mention the third Rodriguez-Lopez brother Rikardo on keyboards, but Marcel performed this task on the record with Rikardo coming aboard later.

The outcome is a complex album rich with texture that must be paid attention to.  It is not an album to put a couple tracks on a jogging mix or to casually listen to in the background.  These five to seven minute rock instrumentals vary in scope and pace so much minute to minute, second to second, that they call out to be experienced at their maximum potential.  Getting Paid is best enjoyed turned up to eleven so that the sonic net can be cast over your consciousness.  This is a stark departure from how music is generally enjoyed these days, and unfortunately most people don’t take the care required to lose themselves in a fifty minute album like this.

While the album opens with some heavy hitters in the titular “Getting Paid” and “Lock Jaw Night Vision,” I will admit that I found myself drifting out at times during my experience and “Static Lovers” and “The Heat The Drought The Thirst And The Insanity” lost me which, admittedly, is easy to do.  However, the band immediately picked back up with the trippy electronica of “Time Masters,” a genre bending experiment which did not go to waste.  By the time the album closes with “Mega Slap,” the listener is blasted with a thumping dirtiness of sound and confident posturing by the band saying “you’re goddamned right this is how we’re ending this album.”

Getting Paid did not give me a dark look at the streets of West Baltimore, but it did turn me on to the direction this quintet fromEl Paso is taking prog rock.  I put a charge out to anyone who claims to be a general fan of music to get lost in the acoustic storm of thick melody and cacophony Zechs Marquise has put out.  I will put good money on you not being disappointed.

Zechs Marquise: Getting Paid (Sargent House /Rodriguez Lopez Productions)

El Paso-based psych-prog five-piece Zechs Marquise is three-fifths Rodriguez Lopez — brothers Marcel, Rikardo, and Marfred — a surname that gained music-industry notoriety from Omar, the prolific Mars Volta guitarist (and partner in Zechs Marquise’s label). Together, the siblings have followed in the progressive footsteps of their older brother, but Zechs Marquise has blazed its own trail over its eight years as a band.

Its official debut album, the 2009 effort Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare, was a much more experimental and atmospheric work, patching together songs with eerie intros, funky keys, and jazz-tinged ambience. Getting Paid, however, fully focuses on the groove. Each of the album’s nine tracks moves at its own pace, venturing into an alternate sonic universe at a moment’s notice. Abrupt tempo shifts, an inexhaustible junk drawer of textures, and a healthy obsession with ’70s prog fusion culminate in a truly shape-shifting record, albeit one that consistently rocks. Zechs Marquise knows when to give into its sweaty, twisted vision-quest dalliances and when to let a groove ride.

Zechs Marquise is the lesser known brother act to prog-rock group The Mars Volta, composed of The Mars Volta’s keyboardist/percussionist Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez (here on drums), as well as guitarist Marcos Smith, bassist Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez, keyboardist Rikardo Rodriguez-Lopez and guitarist Matthew Wilkson. The El Paso quartet, who released its debut Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare in 2009, craft complexly layered prog tunes, often devoid of vocals. “Mega Slap,” the final track on the group’s upcoming sophomore effort, Getting Paid, is a sprawling math-rock number that has an almost-experimental jazz sensibility. Getting Paid drops September 27 via Rodriguez Lopez Productions/Sargent House.

ZECHS MARQUISE - Getting Paid - out tomorrow! September 27, 2011

<a href=”http://zechsmarquise.bandcamp.com/album/getting-paid” _mce_href=”http://zechsmarquise.bandcamp.com/album/getting-paid”>Getting Paid by Zechs Marquise</a>

ENJOY - Stream “Getting Paid” the full album a day early and or click to buy Download in any file size. Or to here to buy on VINYL or CD 

(l - r) Marcos Smith, Matthew Wilkson, Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez, Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez and Rikardo Rodriguez-Lopez

Imagine a soundtrack for a blaxploitation film starring Shaft in outer space and you’ll have an idea of what Zechs Marquise’s second album, Getting Paid, sounds like. The album is a harder, funkier successor to the group’s full-length debut Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare, which favored ambience and mellow dub.

I spoke with bassist Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez over the phone about the album as well as a number of other topics including why the band is playing at a strip club in Hollywood, bass lines in latin cumbias and west coast hip-hop, Japanese anime, the period of time the band was named Mastodon, and a certain famous sibling.

So you have a few shows coming up next week.

We actually start on Saturday. We have one here [in El Paso] and then the next one is in Mesa [AZ]. Then we play L.A., then San Diego, then L.A. again.

I was looking at those shows and I see you guys are playing at Cheetahs. How’d THAT happen?

We have a friend who books bands there and he saw that we were coming out and had a day off. And he’s like “It’s this bikini bar!” and the reason why we took it is because there’s no cover and we get to play all of our stuff. So we thought, cool, we’ll have one free show and one where people have to pay. We’re kind of interested in seeing how that works out.

Yeah, I read that and thought “When did Cheetahs start booking bands?”

[laughs] So is it like a bikini bar or like a strip club? I’ve been told it’s both, kind of.

I was there once for a friend’s birthday. It’s not a full-on strip club but you can get lap dances and all that.

Like a middle ground? [laughs]

Yeah, that’s why when I read about that show, I went “huh?”

That’s weird, yeah. [laughs] We thought the same thing too.

And then you guys are playing at Low End Theory later.

Yeah, we haven’t played Low End in like two years and we used to try to do it at least twice a year. Over the last few years, we never had a chance to schedule a Low End show, especially with how we’ve grown over the past couple of years, but we definitely like playing there. I think they’ve only had a couple of rock bands play there but all the residents there consider us residents so that’s cool considering that we don’t live in L.A.

The first time we did Low End we opened for Daedalus and Busdriver. We were totally stoked on that because we’ve been fans of Busdriver for so long.

And you’re actually playing two shows in El Paso.

Yeah, we have another one in October [at La Parada]. I guess it would be the equivalent of El Paso’s Low End Theory. It’s the first Friday of every month at the San Carlos building, which is a building a huge courtyard. They have lots of stores and stuff and they let these guys rent the whole space once a month with a few dj’s and live art. Sometimes they have a dance troupe play, they’ll have a band play, it’s really cool. We’re booking it as our vinyl release party since we’re playing two shows in El Paso so close together and because it’s mostly a vinyl culture as it is.

Are you going to add more tour dates?

We have a tour coming up in November. As soon as the routing and dates are locked down, we’ll be announcing those. The only reason we’re doing this one so short is because it’s right when the record comes out. We want to get out, play a few shows and give it some time to circulate for a minute before heading back out again.

Let it percolate for a bit?

Yeah, exactly. Let it settle with people. It’ll be nice to do these shows. The way it worked out was great with Low End capping it off and [brother/drummer] Marcel [Rodriguez-Lopez]‘s birthday is the following day on the 29th so to come back home after releasing the record, especially after how long and how hard we’ve been working on it, it’ll be nice.

So it’s an album release/birthday party?

Yeah, pretty much. The Low End show is going to be the fun one. That one’s going to be the official album release show and El Paso gets it a few days before it drops. The Low End one is the one we’re looking forward to. Like you said, it’s going to be like a birthday party.

Are you going to have a giant cake with a Cheetahs dancer jumping out of it?

There you go! [laughs] That’s secretly why we did the Cheetahs gig. To take my brother to a strip club or, actually, I guess it’s a bikini bar or gentlemen’s club. I’m not sure what the correct term would be.

Somewhere in the middle, I guess. A not-so-gentlemen’s club?

[laughs]

I was checking out the album art on the new teaser trailer. Who made it? 

Our friend Zeque Peña. He does most of our artwork. He did the cover for our first full-length and he does all of our tour posters, any kind of flyers and anything we need for artwork. Most of our merchandise our other friend Matt Poe does but Zeque is definitely our main collaborator that we work with. He worked just as hard on that artwork as we did on the record.

I figure the four characters represents each one of you.

Yeah, actually, the four on the cover, the gorilla, the owl, the lion and the elephant is each one of us. The gorilla is [guitarist] Marcos [Smith], the owl is Marcel, I’m the lion and [guitarist] Matthew [Wilkinson] is the elephant. Originally, we already knew we wanted something hand-drawn the way that he did it but the debate was whether or not to actually put our faces on the record and, in the past, for some reason we’ve had this thing with animals or creatures. So we’re like “let’s just pick animals.” It’s our bodies but he drew on the animals heads and placed them over ours.

And you got the most badass one, the lion!

[laughs] It’s funny because when I tell people about it they’re all “is it because of the afro?” I always say yes. I have a mane and so does the lion so I just tell them yes.

When did you finish recording Getting Paid?

I would say it was probably November or December of last year. Then in January, we handed it over within the first week or two of the year to get mixed and the mixing took about a month or two because of scheduling and then we got it mastered. We had the CD’s pressed two or three months ago.

We finished recording it late because the song “Time Masters” wasn’t even going to be on the record. When we started working on it, we’re like “no, it’s gotta be on there” and then we found that it bridged two songs perfectly. That’s why it took us a little longer plus all the hurdles along the way that came with making the record but definitely that last track is what got us to turn it in so late.

Our original intention was to have it out earlier this year but because of that track and how long it took to mix it, it became a fall release, which we were fine with. We didn’t want to hand it over and then be like “you know, we really wanted to change that one part” or “maybe we should’ve taken that thing out or replaced it with this.” We just wanted to get it as good as we could get it.

We could’ve kept working on it forever but you’re never going to be 100 percent satisfied. I’m pretty sure that’s why it took Axl Rose 10 years to put out that last Guns n’ Roses record. [laughs] 

So were you guys originally shooting for a release date around SXSW?

Yeah. because we were heading out on tour and SXSW was the first show of the tour. Because we were going to be out on tour for a month, it would’ve been awesome to have it ready especially since we had been touring the last record about two years. I think there were two or three festivals we were playing on that tour so it made sense. It was a bummer not to have the record with us.

Was that your brother Riko’s first show?

That was his second one, actually. His first one was when we played La Parada that February at a First Friday thing. The South-By was his second show. He caught on really quick. We thought it was going to take him a little longer but I think within, I want to say three weeks, he already had, with a few exceptions here and there, all the songs down. It was definitely a plus. And now he’s gotten a lot more comfortable with it so that’s really good. He’s definitely a gifted dude.

Did you guys bring him on because you needed an extra person?

We brought him on because, originally, Marcel used to play the keyboards and then when we kicked out the original drummer we started trying out different dudes. We had a tour coming up and a lot of the other guys weren’t working out. There were areas where they were just falling short. Some of them it was personality-wise, some of them couldn’t play, you know, they couldn’t keep up with us, one dude couldn’t hit hard enough, one guys style didn’t fit with the band, so then Marcel was like “you know what? I’ll just play drums!” Drums was his original instrument anyway and the only reason he played keyboards at the time was because we already had a drummer and [Marcel] was leaving all the time on Mars Volta tours. It was easier for us to tour without a keyboard player. It made it a lot easier for us especially considering that, at the time, our songs had keyboards in them but we could get one of the guitarists to do some the keyboard parts back in those days.

When we were done with the record and when we did that tour in March, the idea was “all right, we’re not gonna play any of the old songs. We’re just gonna play all the new ones and see how people like it.” The new record has lots of keyboard parts that are vital to the song. Riko had already been messing around with keyboards. He was a keyboard player and a guitar player and he knew enough about the keyboard that if he were to listen to something he could catch on really quickly. It was inevitable. It was like “ok, we need a keyboard player now.” Who better than someone who has been around it for most of his life? Or all of his life, I should say. We already knew we could get along with him. We already knew he was a cool kid and that he could play. We weren’t going to get another drummer so Marcel could go back to keys because Marcel is a really, really awesome drummer.

A better drummer than keyboardist?

I would say so. He’s a great keyboardist, don’t get me wrong, especially his sense of melody and harmonies and how he can play a grand piano, he can play a rhodes, he can play wurlitzer, a clavinet, a synthesizer. Just because you can play a piano doesn’t necessarily mean you can play clavinet because of the way the instrument functions. He can do all that real well but the drums has always been his first love. Before he ever got into playing keyboards, he had already been playing drums for like four or five years and it’s always been a constant thing. He’s been fortunate enough to work with so many great drummers that he’s definitely taken things from here and there and added them to his style. It makes for such an awesome drummer. He’s a great keyboardist but his drumming is just incredible.

He hits really hard. I always make jokes about how he hits so hard, especially when he hits the snare drum, that you hear a small suction sound. A vacuum is being created because he hits so hard! [laughs]

He’s going to be like Vinnie Paul from Pantera. That guy would hit so hard he’d use the other end of the sticks.

[laughs] He’s always breaking sticks. It sucks when we have rehearsals and I look over and he’ll be using timbale sticks, which in most cases, especially the ones that he has, are really thin so he’s breaking those even faster than he would regular drum sticks. Not that it’s happened a lot but we’ve had to end rehearsals early because he’s out of drum sticks.

There goes the band’s budget.

Just on sticks! [laughs] I remember beforehand he would buy them out of pocket and it was the same thing with the guitar player Matt. He would buy all of these strings and pop them left and right so I said “you know what, you guys are spending so much money on that shit! Just put it on the band’s budget now.” Now we do get strings and sticks so it does make it easier.

Were you and Marcel playing since you were kids?

I was maybe 17 or 16 because Marcel got his first drum kit when he was 15. It was something fun for us to do. We really liked dub music a lot and reggae and hip-hop. We were drums and bass so it made sense. We were a rhythm section.

It sounds cheesy but, because we’re brothers, there’s a connection that we wouldn’t get otherwise if we were just friends. We play off of each other real well and our styles go real well with each other.

How did you meet Marcos and Matthew?

They’re old friends. Marcos, Marcel and I went to school together starting in middle school all the way through high school. We’ve been friends for almost 20 years. We met Matt in high school. We’d see him all the time at shows and he had a band called Airplanes Are Better. We’d start seeing his band play at somebody’s show we’d all go to. The funny thing is, all four of us didn’t start playing together until our 20's but we had been friends since we were 15. Well, of course, Marcel and I have been friends longer. [laughs]

It wasn’t until we were like 19 or 20 years old that the four of us started playing together. Marcel and I would do it all the time, sometimes it was Marcel and Marcos, occasionally it was Marcel, Marcos and I. A lot of times it was Matt and I. It finally got to a point where we decided “why don’t all four of us just play together?!” [laughs]

What about yourself? Have you always played bass your whole life?

I started out playing guitar, which is actually funny because when I started playing guitar, [brother] Omar [Rodriguez-Lopez] was actually playing bass. He started out playing bass. The guitar wasn’t even his first instrument. Somewhere along the way, I want to say, right before or around my 15th birthday I started noticing that the thing I noticed the most in songs anyway was the bass and I loved the way it sounded and the tone, especially because I would listen to a lot of latin music and a lot of hip-hop where the bass plays such a huge role. I really loved the way the instrument sounded and, on top of that, it’s weird because I love the way the bass sounds, I do have my favorite bass players but, I’m more influenced by guitar players when it comes to playing the bass.

That’s one thing I’ve noticed about Hispanics. I’m Mexican and my cousins are all about cumbias but, on the other end, they love Dr. Dre and Tupac.

Latin music and hip-hop is so lively. It’s got a lot of life in it and character especially west coast hip-hop and rap. It has that lively, dancey sound and also the whole bass thing. A lot of hip-hop is about how thick that bass is and how hard it pounds.

Yeah…that and Sublime.

Right?! [laughter]

I never understood the obsession with Sublime.

It’s the white dude’s reggae.

[laughs] Did you guys get your name from Mobile Gundam Wing?

Yeah, actually, when Marcel and I were younger we used to watch it. We had these two Chinese friends and, on summer vacation, they’d go visit their aunts, uncles and grandparents over in China. They’d always come back with all these VHS’s and toys of Dragonball Z and different kinds of Gundams and this other anime called The Guyver. They would come back with all this weird stuff and we were like “this is really cool,” especially because American cartoons weren’t really like that, much less the toys which were more like models. We were drawn to it and I specifically liked the Gundam stuff because it had to with space and giant robots, which I was a huge fan of when I was a kid.

Gundam Wing was my favorite one and, when we were looking for a name, I was watching the series that had just been released on DVD so, of course, I went out and I bought one. We went to rehearsal one day and we were throwing out names and, because I had just come from watching it, I just threw it out. “What about Zechs Marquise?” Everyone was like “I like that! I really like that!” Marcel was the only one who knew where it was from but then they were all like “where is that from?!” and I said “it’s a character from a Japanese cartoon.” They were like “I really like that! Let’s use that!” [laughs]

It’s funny too because there are kids that get into the band solely based on the name. They’re like “oh man, I love that TV series and I really like that character! I hope that band’s awesome!” So they’ll check us out and end up liking it. Or some people end up hating it. [laughs]

I was listening to Getting Paid and, to me, it sounds like an outer space, blaxploitation soundtrack.

[laugh] That’s good, that’s kind of what we had in mind. Each song tells its own story. That’s exactly more or less what we had in mind. Time travel and space travel and just “out there” things. The idea for the artwork too, all these different creatures, basically it’s like a representation of what fundamentally how people are all the same but the outside is what makes us different. There’s your character right there, personality and outward appearance, and that’s kind of where each of the creatures come in.

We’ve always had that idea of space travel and the unknown. One of the big ideas for Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare was of the unknown and the sea because man hasn’t explored the ocean in its entirety.

We had a lot of fun with the record because the whole thing was “all right, we’re going to put more energy in it” and make it something that you can nod your head to and tap your toe. Especially with instrumental music, without that voice of a lead singer, you kind of have to use all the tools you have with your instruments, which, for the most part was heavy rhythms and catchy melodies and, most importantly, harmonies to give it that extra layer to make it slightly larger than it actually is.

Why did you guys decide to not have a singer?

Originally it was just because none of us could sing. When we first got the band together it was more, this sounds ridiculous or cliche but, we were just having fun. We would always just show up and they weren’t even really practices. It was more of “hey dude, do you want to go jam later?” So we’d meet up and just jam and there was never anything really written. Occasionally, someone would have a riff, we’d play it and everyone would play along. When we did realize “well, let’s start writing songs,” none of us are really vocalists or lyricists, so to say, but we really liked these songs. So we’re like “let’s just keep it instrumental” because at the time we really liked Hella and a lot of the early Floyd stuff after Syd Barrett right before Dark Side was very light on the lyrics. There were these spacier parts. We liked the way a ton of these bands worked without vocals so why can’t we try it?

Through that process we learned that somehow we have to replace that absence of the singer and that’s when we got into the idea, “maybe we’ll just use extended solos,” which was always the solution before. Now we’ve learned to focus it a little more. Now we’ll have a cool melody that traditionally would be sung by somebody but it’ll be on the guitars instead of the keyboard or the keyboard will play it and the guitars will play two different harmonies. We never put the idea in our heads that there wouldn’t be singing, that there wouldn’t be vocals. It’s a matter of using them correctly.

At one point, we didn’t want to bring anyone in from outside because you have to make sure you get along with them, that they’re good people, they have to be able to write lyrics that everyone likes or that we could at least all agree on, they have to be able to sing well and a lot of dudes would come up to us and they were kind of mediocre singers. If that’s what we’re going to be dealing with then why don’t we just be the mediocre singers? That’s also why we did those bits of vocals on the record. We could do that little bit.

There are a few tracks that have some vocals on it. Who is the female singer on “The Heat, The Drought…?”

That’s our friend Genevieve Sunny Baker but she goes by Sunny. She’s this great singer from around here. She has a group called Crooke and Color. Matthew Poe who I mentioned earlier who does some of our shirt designs has a twin brother, Joseph, who actually filled in for drums for Marcel on our last tour. She’s his girlfriend and we went to go watch them play a show because he plays drums in her group. She has a really awesome, soothing voice.

When we recorder her, we showed her old soul records and with that she did it all in one day, if I’m not mistaken. Maybe two days just so she could get comfortable with it. She went back to listen to it and she thought she could do better, which she did, she killed it. It’s a lot of people’s favorite song. A lot of our friends that have heard it are like “that’s my favorite track on that record.” She did a great job with those harmonies.

It’s funny because she was so shy. She was like “just show me how to record and I can do it.” We recorded the vocals inside of a closet at her house so we moved the computer into the closet with her and the microphone and she sat inside there by herself recording the whole thing. My brother and I just chilled in the living room with her boyfriend while she recorded the parts.

Let her record while you chill in the living room with some beers and a PS3.

[laughs] It was awesome because we were like “we’re going to be here for three or four hours. Let’s go get some food” but, no, she was like “no, I’ll record it.” She did it just fine.

What about the vocals on “Static Lovers?”

That’s actually the four of us. Marcel and I do the soprano, Marcos is doing a falsetto and then Matt is singing a harmony so it gave it this weird layered effect. It was cool. When we did it we were like “there’s kind of this Bee Gees thing going on.” None of us are huge fans of the Bee Gees or anything but we liked how you can hear a tiny voice, the mid-range voices playing off each other that makes it sound a little bigger and then you got the dude doing the harmonies. It sounds like he’s down a hallway singing it. It sounded cool the way it came out.

None of us are great singers but all we had to do was figure out what key it was in, practice it a few times and record it two or three times.

You had to pull off a Captain Planet move: combine the four to make one.

Yeah! [laughs] Exactly. When your powers combine, I can sing songs! Individually, our voices sounded terrible but all four together, it’s passable. We actually were surprised with how well it sounded at first. It was the first song we did the singing on and we were unsure about it when we were doing it. Then we played it back and we’re like “wow!”

You can’t really hear it but on the song Sunny sings on, we do backing vocals but it’s super low on the mix.

Going back to the recording process, was it during your very first album or was it during Nightmare when you had trouble with the recording studio?

It was before Nightmare. It was even before the live EP that we did. The way that it happened was that we went to the studio, we paid for studio time, we went in, recorded…I think it was five songs and then we went on a Christmas break. The engineer that was working on the record went back to Mexico to visit his family and Matt’s parents live in Oregon so he went up there. We took a two or three week Christmas break. We came back, wanted to go back in to add some overdubs to some of the songs but the engineer was in some kind of legal dispute with the studio owners.

During that whole thing, we were in limbo and we didn’t know what to do. Eventually, we took a hard drive to get all of our stuff. [Bobby the engineer] was going to set up a home studio and that’s what we were waiting for. We were going to get the tracks and finish them up ourselves. When we showed up to get them, the current engineer looks for the files everywhere and can’t find them. So we went back to one of the studio owners, the one who was a little more familiar with it because he was there all the time when we were recording, and he explained to us that they had gone through and erased pretty much everything that that guy had worked on. I guess it got really bad between them and they deleted all the files, all the stuff he had recorded and got rid of it.

So we’re like “wait, we paid this money to get these songs and now we have nothing.” And the guy’s like “well, you’re dealing with Bobby so you’re going to have to talk to him about that. There’s nothing we can do for you.” Basically, we were fucked then but right before we left on that holiday break, we had one song that actually bounced for us but it was unmixed. So we just had this one thing out of the five that were recorded so we thought we’ll just scrap it or keep it somewhere.

Then we got the idea, “let’s just record one of our sets.” [laughs] We had a friend with a Mac and he had just gotten Pro Tools and we recorded it. That was our solution: we’re going on tour, let’s just record a live set, slap it together, give it a little packaging and we’ll sell that on the road.

Later, we started getting the idea, “let’s start recording another record,” but we didn’t want to go through that whole process again of having to pay someone for studio time, then having to make sure that all of us can go in and setting up a schedule. It was just a hassle so we figured that all that money that we would’ve put in to recording at a studio, why don’t we just buy our own microphones, our own computers, our own Pro Tools rig? And that’s exactly what we did. We recorded Our Delicate… and Getting Paid ourselves with all of our own gear. As time went on, we got better mics so that’s one of the reasons why Getting Paid sounds so much better than Our Delicate…

So do you have your own studio built now?

It’s a funny thing because when we recorded Our Delicate…, my parents have a three-care garage and they weren’t using it anymore and it’s huge. It’s an enormous three-car garage. We set up our gear in there, our computer, the mixing board and everything and Omar, Marcel and I were talking with my dad and telling him that we should turn it into a studio. Get some hardwood floors in there, get some real doors instead of those metal garage doors. [laughs] It has fluorescent lighting so there’s always this buzzing going on if you have the lights on so we kind of made it into a studio. It’s worked out from there because it’s about the gear you have and how you use it.

We recorded most of Getting Paid in Marcel’s and my living room. It’s where we recorded the drums and we did the keyboards, the guitars and the bass with the rigs inside of different closets. It helped contain it a little more so the neighbors wouldn’t complain because the neighborhood Marcel and I live in, the houses are pretty close together.

Now we’re back at the studio at my parent’s house now that they’re done remodeling their house so we can start tracking for the new record there. It’s great because we don’t have to make recording schedules with anybody. We can do it at our own pace. We can record as much as we want in a day or as little as we want in a day. There’s no setbacks other than our own. There’s no shortage of funds because it’s all of our equipment.

Zechs Marquise - Everlasting Beacon of Light 

How did that change the songwriting process? Obviously, it was less stressful.

Yeah, absolutely. When we recorded the other record, the one that got scrapped, it was all pre-written material and the songs that we worked on, we went in and just hammered them out. With our own studio, we can write songs when we’re in there recording, which is how the last two records were done. We went in with one basic idea and just wrote the song. It helps us even more because if we come up with something cool while we’re recording, it can be recorded real quick and get back to that later.

How did you meet Cathy at ADN-BG-7E73483C63782268 http://feeds.artistdata.com/a-AR-OQJ3HW4SAKV3DK99/ADN-BG-1096DCD85CE82269 Blog entry by